Bahraini MP's Call for Suspension of Expat Employment Fees

To follow-up on a recent post presented in this blog last week on new methods the Bahraini Government is pursuing to address rising unemployment of its national population, the Labor Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) has received backlash from Parliament demanding the suspension of monthly employment fees, according to the TradeNews Arabiaa New Source. To briefly elaborate, the LMRA recently instituted monthly employment fees totally 10 Bahrain Dinars (26 USD) for all expatriate employees to be paid by their employer. Some members of Parliament have encouraged a temporary suspension to this system, arguing that the "crippling fees" have led to the bankruptcy of several small and medium size business since the law's inception in July 2008, according to reports. The urgent proposal has been submitted to Bahrain's upper house (Shura Council) by a cross-section of MP's despite the objection of the Minsiter of State of Parliament and Shura Council Affairs, who commented that a suspension would negatively affect other schemes being carried out by the LMRA.

The submission of the proposal follows two separate demonstrations this month by businessmen in front of Bahrain's National Assembly, as well as their submission of a formal letter to His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa.

MP Sheikh Ali Slaman noted that small and medium-sized business owners have become victims of the improper implementation of the fee system, underscoring that the purpose of the fees is to make Bahraini citizens more attractive for employment in businesses that are already dominated by expatriate workers.

The temporary suspension would provide one year for the LMRA to properly reassess the law and assemble economic charts providing data outlining the specific businesses that should be obliged to pay employment fees.

Qatar: How The World's Wealthiest Nation Per Capita Relies on Migrant Worker Labor

In an attempt to further expand the scope of my research, I recently attended a few meetings and conferences in the State of Qatar to better assess the human rights and migrant labor issues that this majestic city-state currently faces. Qatar hosts the most dramatic demographic contradictions between its local population and the migrant worker community that it must outsource in order to accomdate its rapid and unparalleled Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) Indistry. With only 350,000 Qatari citizens inhabitiing a nation that boasts the highest production and export of LNG in the world, Qatar ranks number one for the world's highest GDP per capita income and embodies a rentier welfare-state in its most basic description. However, the wealth that Qataris enjoy is at the expense of hundreds of thousands of migrant workers that are brought to the country on two-year contracts to work in nearly every sector and industry that the country has consecrated, mostly because the Qataris have no interest in working in positions that are not managerial or administrative. They hold a reputation that is even more negatively slanted than their Kuwaiti counter-parts, attributed largely to the country's massive natural resource wealth that provides a backbone for lavish lifestyles that are serviced and maintained by the hands of poor, outsourced laborers.

However, it is unfair to immediately dismiss the Qataris in their efforts to regulate and protect their migrant worker population. Higher income for Qataris has trickled down the economic latter and raised income levels for migrant workers to higher salaries than anywhere else in the region, and legitimacy of private sector employment contracts is upheld and regulated by the Ministry of Interior. Unlike other parts of the region, Qatar maintains a strict turn-over of migrant workers to prevent long-term residency and the potential to reap attractive welfare benefits. As a result, sponsors are less able to withhold wages and force their employees to stay in the country longer than the 2-year period the law allows. Although issues like withheld passports, coercive employment tactics (i.e. false contracts), and rights to change employers continue to remain crucial issues for anti-trafficking and human rights advocates, Qatar has seen rapid advancements under its labor law, with many foreseeable positive developments on the horizon.

Some of these developments have already come to fruition, and include, the abolition of the Camel Jockey industry. Previous to the Qatari Government's intervention in this regionally cultural tradition, underage children or "camel jockeys" were recruited from south Asia to participate in extremely dangers recreational races for entertainment purposes. Many were seriously injured and malnourished to keep them within race-weight standards. Now, the industry has made use of electronic jockeys instead, which has allegedly stopped the flow of the children who were previously trafficked into the country and exploited.

Another major development is the incorporation of anti-trafficking statutes under the current labor law. I will underscore that there is still no anti-trafficking law (although talk of drafting one has been reported); nevertheless, statutes exist that make use of similar language and highlight relative clauses that penalize trafficking of laborers. Qataris have even been tried, convicted, and imprisoned under these statutes-something barely seen in arguably more labor-friendly countries like Bahrain.

Like its neighbors, Qatari labor law maintains a crucial fault with regard to its domestic worker population (including housemaids, drivers, cooks and gardeners) who are not offered any legal protection under the current labor law or benefits that are awarded to private sector employees. Salries, days-off and contracts are the responsibility of the sponsor and offer considerable room for ambiguity and abuse to exploitive employers. However, in response to growing criticisms from the international communities towards Qatar and other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), new interest has developed in drafting a formal labor law that will better regulate Qatar domestic worker population.

Featured on the front page of one of the country's principle English-speaking newspapers, The Peninsula, an article described the development of a new Domestic labor law being drafted by a special panel tasked with finalizing the regulation of rights and duties of domestic workers. The panel will incorporate representatives from several government agencies and will review with other GCC countries. The draft law may finally provide privileges to domestic employees, like end-of-service benefits, annual leave, and free medical care. These and other formal arrangements would have to be included in contracts between sponsors and their employees and would require endorsement by the Labor Department to be considered legally valid. The law might also regulate the functioning of manpower agencies and their role in hiring domestic workers in the country, the Peninsula reported.

And finally, the sponsorship system. Found in all countries except for Bahrain officially, but actually found in all countries of the Gulf unofficially, Qatar's sponsorship system seems to be the most archaic and limited with regard to a worker's access to mobility. As is required in Kuwait, Oman, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia, a sponsor must provide consent for his employer to change to a different sponsor. In Qatar, the process is further complicated with the addition of a second party that must approve a change of employment as well-the Ministry of Interior, and it was brought to my attention that it is more often the Ministry of Interior that denies a worker the right to change his/her sponsor, the motivation from which derives from some very interesting sources. The Qatari government is known to grant shifts in sponsorship only when diplomatic relations between the expatriate's home-country and Qatar are strong. Political turbulence may often result in a denied petition for a valid change of employment slip. Additionally, the Ministry is known to turn down applicants that are seeking higher salaries from the new sponsor they wish to work for, or if the position could be filled by a Qatari citizen. Qatar, like Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait has embraced a new economic development model that "ization-izes" the national population and encourages locals to enter the job market. Limiting positions for expatriates is an effective way to open up the job market to locals but discourages the professional development of expatriates.

Qatar presents an intriguing case study for human trafficking and migrant worker issues in the Arabian Gulf. I intend to keep my attention partially focused on the peninsula as it embarks on a proactive course of action to improve its labor laws and the lives of its expatriate workforce. I am sure there will be some follow-up.

Worker Beaten by Sponsor in Front of Police

In another shocking news story out of Kuwait, the Arab Times reported last week that an Asian worker was beaten by his sponsor with an iron rod in front of a Kuwaiti police officer who stood-by and did not intervene.

The worker was trying to reach his Embassy after fleeing an allegedly abusive sponsor who had been mistreating him. In front of the Indian Embassy, the sponsor, accompanied by a policeman, began to brutally beat his employee with an iron rod in plain view of several people awaiting transaction services at the Embassy. Reports indicate that onlookers and Indian Embassy officials attempted to intervene but were deterred by the presence of the Kuwaiti police.

The worker was then handcuffed and taken to a local police station where he is reported to have entered into a "compromise" for fear of legal backlash threatened by his sponsor.

This is another example of how distinct privileges are awarded to Kuwaitis who are often exempt from legal prosecution in the face of blatant violations of national law that offers protections (albeit limited) to Kuwait's expat community.

Expatriate workers account for over 70% of Kuwait's population.

Migrant Worker Struggles in the Arab Gulf States

Below is an informative summation of migrant worker struggles in the Arab Gulf States put together by the team of Mideast Youth.org. Although not all migrant workers are subject to ill treatment in the region, many suffer unimaginable abuses and continue to be neglected under regional laws. For specific cases pulled from regional reporters, please go to www.migrant-rights.org to learn more.

Labor Reforms in Bahrain Tackle Local Unemployment Crisis

According to the Arabian Business News Source, recent reforms to Bahrain's labor market have begun to drive up the cost of employing cheap and unskilled laborers, increasing competitiveness of Bahraini citizens in the job market. This has been a topic that has been discussed since the inception of this blog and has been a pressing issue for the Bahraini Government in its efforts to expand job opportunities for Bahrainis and drive down its foreign population.

In a recent interview with Reuters News Agency, the Chief Executive of Bahrain's Labor Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) Ali Radhi revealed the cost of employing expatriate workers is rising, and although the cost increase is not significant, it presents an upward moving trend. Recent reforms have imposed monthly 26.5 USD training fees paid by the employer for each expatriate worker brought to the island Kingdom.

Another significant reform occurred last year when Bahrain became the first Arab Gulf state to eliminate the employment sponsorship system, which LMRA officials hoped would allow workers to change sponsors without consent and encourage them to freely negotiate higher salaries with employers, making them less attractive for hire in comparison to their Bahraini counter-parts.

LMRA data shows that there has been an increasing trend in workers who have decided to change their sponsors under this new system, and that the gap in wages between locals and foreigners has decreased by 15 percent in some sectors, like construction. Radh noted that the effects of these reforms will be more significant once the current contracts of outsourced laborers expire and employers can choose between hiring locals instead of foreigners for the first time.

The next phase of labor reforms will be the implementation of an adaptable cap on foreign employment in certain sectors that will be determined by economic growth and industrial output. The employment ceilings have not been released to the public yet, but are awaiting approval by the board of the LMRA and reflect recent data collected from various industrial sectors.

Many Arab Gulf states are looking to Bahrain's economic transformation policies with envy, as they also attempt to address similar struggles of incorporating young people into the job market. Countries like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have embraced bottom-down reforms that have forced companies to hire locals (and sack foreigners) in the recent economic downturn.

Bahrain is also working to tackle illegal employment of foreign workers, often perpetuated by local employers who recruit them to Bahrain but allow them to pursue other employment opportunities in exchange for a portion of their salaries, which throws them into financial and legal uncertainty, as well as, a higher likelihood of trafficking.

Minimum Wage in Bahrain In the Wake of Domestic Worker Discussion

In early April the Bahraini Parliament approved an unprecedented minimum wage law for government employees and members of the Armed Forces amounting to 300 Bahraini Dinars (BD) per month (approx. 795 USD).

The Gulf Daily News Reports that the new minimum wage law will take effect January 1, 2011 and will cost the Bahraini Government 100 million Bahrain Dinars annually and will incorporate the total 1,023 government employees currently receiving a salary lower than 300 BD per month, accounting for a total of 37,000 employees eligible for the new minimum wage.

The new minimum wage law will now be ratified by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

Although a significant step forward, this minimum wage affects only a small percentage of Bahrain's workforce and does not consider salaries of migrant and domestic workers.

However, it appears that new attention is being focused on establishing a minimum wage for domestic female workers following a recent move by the Filipino Government's Office of Overseas Employment Administration, which is now demanding that salaries for its overseas housemaids be increased to 400 USD per month. Bahrain's Labor Market Regulatory Authority has already responded by stating that laws issued in the Philippines will not be binding in Bahrain.

Issues of a minimum wage and days-off for female expat workers were also the primary topics at a debate and subsequent roundtable discussion for selected prominent female activists at the Bahrain National Museum in late March.

Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society (BHRWS) Women, Children and Minorities rights director Hala Ramzy Fayez said that all domestic workers should have the right to a minimum wage, weekly day of rest, be given maternity leave, and public holidays.

In a quotation from her organization's website, Ms Fayez stated that ""although on the whole, migrant workers enjoy labour rights and a good working environment, there are some sectors where some suffer from low pay, an inappropriate working environment and living conditions resulting in unpleasant experiences." She added that estimating the prevalence of abuse was difficult, given the lack of reporting mechanisms available - which in turn caused a lack of legal protection for domestic workers.

Proposed Labor Town to Rid Bahraini Neighborhoods of Migrant Workers

Recent reporting from the TradeArabia News Source revisits the Bahraini Government's interest in constructing "labor towns" for thousands of migrant workers, with the goal of eliminating the hundreds of make-shift labor camps dotted throughout the country and segregating expats from Bahraini neighborhoods.

This new proposed labor town, which plans to accommodate a 10,000 worker capacity would be established in central Bahrain's East Rifaa District on a selected vacant piece of land behind several factories and plants that are already located in the area. According to the article, the project has already been approved by the Southern Municipal Council and received the backing of surrounding Municipalities and the Minister of Agriculture.

Rifaa's Municipal Councilor and pioneer of this initiative has stated that a new labor town is a necessary mechanism to cope with the expanding expat community currently living, and negatively affecting Bahraini residents in the area. Grouping migrant workers together is argued to improve the lives of Bahraini citizens who often complain of having to live in such close proximity to make-shift labor camps within their neighborhoods. The Municipal Councilor further noted that Bahraini citizens are being forced to move from the area due to deteriorating living conditions-like sewage overhaul-and increasing incidence of crime as a result of the increasing population of migrant workers.

New accommodations are argued to improve the lives of the migrant workers living in cramped, dilapidated housing complexes.

Rifaa is not alone in its quest to rid its national population of migrant workers. Requests for labor townships from all of Bahrain's governates have been made following years of complaints from local Municipal Councils.

The Minster of Agriculture recently banned a request to enact formal legislation that would prevent migrant workers from living in residential areas alongside Bahraini citizens; however, a proposed draft law has been submitted to Parliament by the Municipal Councils that would allow landlords the right to rent property only to expats and professionals, disallowing migrant laborers and unskilled bachelors from acquiring a residence and permitting only 6 months for such individuals currently living in designated areas to vacate before being evicted.

Rifaa's Municipal Councilor is still in the process of locating the landowners of the proposed area for the labor town to approach them about acquiring the plot.